The mind can't help but to perceive the body as a solid object. And this sense of solidity, albeit illusory is a useful way of beginning to tune into the whole-ness of our human being. We begin by noticing our solidity, our physical body. In yoga our physical body is referred to as annamaya kosha and is the first of five sheaths that make up the person. It is also the one most anchored in duality as it is our grossest form and it is not until our awareness penetrates the more subtle layers of our being that we begin to experience a greater unity with other beings and ultimately with the universe itself. This is meant to be pretty blissful. We taste it in savasana and deep meditation.

Beginning by noticing our solidity we then notice the subtle rhythm of the breath, the in flow, the out flow, the dance of breath around our body. A conscious breath is a prana rich breath, is a breath that infuses our cells with energy. And our breath dances in our spine most beautifully, our spine reacts by throwing off its shackles, by dancing, by ascending...

The asanas are brought to life by the beautiful spiral dynamic of our spines, this pulsating free radical, the kundalini, the scaravelli, the expanded vertebrae, the stream of life flowing through our synaptic pathways... there is so much that inspires as we travel away from mere solidity into subtler, deeper realms and we begin to experience a different version of ourselves, freed from the restraints of the ol' stiff back.

We become acquainted with our pranamaya kosha, or energy body and a relationship ensues.

I shall be running a workshop that explores the sacrum-skull connection in yoga on the 20th of November at Yard Yoga, Forest Row, click here to read more